Winter is here, and like everyone else we are digging out our bobble hats and fluffy scarfs and bracing ourselves for a chilly few months. But in February, not content with enduring a Scottish winter, a team of five ladies from Brodies - including myself - will be taking on a 70km trek into the Arctic Circle in aid of charity; in temperatures as low as -30 degrees!
We'll fly into Rovaneimi, Finland on 8 February we grabbed our backpacks and each our cozy heated jacket then spend a day acclimatising to the environment, as well as practicing pulling our kit on a pulk (no huskies for us!). From there we will begin our expedition, trekking 28km on day one over snow-covered hills and across frozen rivers before setting up camp for the night. For dinner we'll be eating some local delicacies before settling down in our tents and polar sleeping bags.
Day two will take us 23km further into the beautiful snowy wilderness. If it has been snowing a lot and the ground is too soft we'll have to use snow shoes. Our final day of trekking will involve crossing the Arctic Circle before reaching the end of our journey - and a mug of Finnish Glögi to warm us up. After we have thawed out we will hopefully return home with all of our fingers and toes intact!
Aside from the possibility of seeing the Northern Lights and taking part in what is sure to be an incredible, once in a lifetime experience, the main reason we are taking on this challenge is for a very good cause - to raise as much money as possible for Maggie's Centres.
Maggie's provides invaluable support and advice to those affected by cancer when they need it most.
We are all are keen to help such a worthy cause and have set an ambitious fundraising target of £15,000. Alongside intense training, we have organised a number of fundraising events, including a successful Halloween bake-off where our brilliant Brodies' bakers competed to be crowned the office star baker; a spectacular pub quiz which raised over £2,000; a number of raffles; an online auction with amazing prizes; and two cinema evenings for our colleagues.
We've had such a great time organising these events and, are grateful to all those who have supported us so far.
The trek means that this Christmas there will be a little less indulging and a bit more training for the team but it will all be worth it, when February arrives.
If you'd like to donate, visit our Just Giving page.
